Only there were at least two helicopters, per the videos I saw. One was a Blackhawk, quite clearly, and the other was an older Huey with ambulance markings.
I’m watching Trudeau right now, kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds in the midst of a protest outside Parliament in Ottawa.
There is no tear gas. There are no rubber bullets. There are no riot police. The demonstration organizer is politely asking people to move so they can get the march going, and to pick up the garbage.
I used to live in Ottawa, within walking distance of Parliament; earlier than that, I lived in DC, within walking distance of the Capitol. I miss them both terribly right now.
vyshka
4115
So in Buffalo, 57 members of their emergency response team quit the unit (not the force) due to the suspension of those 2 cops:
“Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders,” Buffalo Police Benevolent Association president John Evans told WGRZ on Friday. WKBW also reported news of the resignations.
So they had orders to knock down a 75 year old. Fuck them all. Bust their fucking unions, and get rid of all these fucks.
Apparently all the churches up and down 16 rang their bells…
mono
4118
Only following orders…
Fuck them, don’t re-hire, prosecute the 2 involved and anyone who gave the order.
Agreed, wholeheartedly. And as they quit, this is an easy way to get rid of a few bad apples without any union wrangling. If only the rest would be so willing.
Sharpe
4121
Here’s one of the problems with the way policing and unions are structured in America: my understanding of the Buffalo “resignations” is that the 57 cops resigned from the ERT assignment but not as police, so they are still sworn police officers in the pay of Buffalo PD with the full panoply of civil service protections and impediments to firing them. They didn’t quit, not truly, not in the way most of us think of it. They are just no longer assigned to the “Emergency Response Team”. They still have jobs and paychecks, just no current assignment. And normally, refusing a work assignment like that would be grounds for full termination but I’m sure they have massive protections. I’ve become convinced that police unions are an enormous part of this problem and need to either be completely removed or at least limited to bargaining only for wages, hours and benefits.
Ahh, so the extra cowardly “quit”
Canuck
4123
Wait I thought unions were bad? How come the GOP haven’t gutted the police unions already?
Sharpe
4124
Up til now, police unions have generally been protected by Dems as part of the general pro-union sentiment and also as public sector unions.
However, there is a meaningful distinction that can be made, in that we should not allow unionization of jobs involving the state sanctioned use of force. Since the state has to have control of the use of force, we need a unitary chain of command, and complete control of the use of force by the elected officials. When you think about it, the whole police union issue of contesting their own management on issues of training and use of force, of protecting officers who are accused of abusing force, etc., is just completely nonsensical.
I can see a place for police unions to bargain for wages, hours, and benefits, although it might be necessary to remove them entirely for a period of time until the current abuses and precedents are diminished. But what I cannot see is allowing an authority not elected by the voters interfere with the normal command, control, training and decisions on the use of force. We are supposed to have civilian control of the use of force in this country and it’s become apparent that we do not, not truly. That’s a problem. A serious problem.
The best way forward on this would be the proverbial “comprehensive reform package” where we strengthen other unions (I am in favor of adopting some of the European style “industry wide bargaining” ideas) and then restrict police unions as part of a comprehensive trade-off.
However given the exigency of the current use of force crisis, we probably have to reform and restrict the police, including police unions, right now, first.
Looks like somebody owes Mr. Kaepernick an apology:
vyshka
4126
Good. Here’s hoping he gets a real nice cell mate.
Timex
4127
I’ll be real surprised if Biff isn’t a cop.
Anyway, this made me chuckle, especially when the KPop stans get mentioned, after what trigger said.
CraigM
4128
Seems that, according to the Rick Wilson replies, that he is precisely a former cop.
That dude looks like a real Dudebro. Hard to tell though, because he’s not wearing Oakleys.
